This invention relates generally to hydromagnetic devices and more particularly to a device in which scale-forming minerals in a fluid are more efficiently crystallized and precipitated within the fluid. In addition to water softening, prior crystallization on the pipes and walls of equipment is reduced, thereby improving fluid flow and heat transfer while reducing energy consumption and maintainance costs. It has been found that certain very specific conditions are required in order to improve efficiency. The fluid must pass through magnetic flux fields at such flow rates and velocities that the liquid experiences appropriately spaced alternating and reinforcing flux densities to the correct intensity to treat the substances.
Numerous magnetic devices and/or systems have been proposed and are in use for the purpose of water treatment. Typical designs patented to Vermeiren in U.S. Pat. No. 2,652,925, to Mack in U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,464, and to Sanderson in U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,807 have in common devices that include several opposed permanent magnets which provide what is technically known as magnetic stray fields for the liquid to pass. Even though each of the above is essentially a concentric arrangement, the flux density and, consequently, the treatment of the fluid varies from location to location within the device because of this dependence upon stray fields. To compensate for distortion and bias of the fields, some devices rotate the fluid path to cut lines of force in a more orthoganal manner. Devices such as patented to Kottmeier in U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,660, and to Kottmeier and Happ in U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,274 and 3,680,705 utilize a helical path for such an improvement. Brown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,479 provides disc type magnets which may be individually rotated to improve flux line cutting. Devices such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,963 to Jessop et.al. implant their device in a non flowing liquid tank, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,535 to Risk, U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,754 to Menold, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,755 to Zimmerman fasten to the outside of fluid conducting tubes and provide unsymmetrical conditioning as the greatest amount of the fluid flows through the center of the conduit where the flux densities are either nonexistent or are the weakest. In a similar clampon apparatus, Fujita in U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,296, varies field strength by adjusting air gap spacing in an application of magnetic fields to finer dispersal of dust and oil particles in fuels prior to combustion.
The device patented by Shalhoob contains a concentric arrangement of magnetic fields that increases the flow velocity of the water at the poles of the permanent magnets by reducing the cross section of the water flow thusly accelerating the fluid flow at the magnetic poles. A ferrous rod and washers are included to concentrate the magnetic flux at the poles. Although several of the references cited show knowledge of the importance of obtaining maximum fluid exposure to a high flux density, none touch the importance of the spacial distribution of repeated exposures to highly concentrated fields. It has been found herein that performance can be improved by changing the repetitive alternating field exposure time and spacial cutting rate as a function of fluid velocity.